The Diary of a Bookseller

SATURDAY, 22 NOVEMBER

Online orders: 3

Books found: 1

Nicky was in, so I went for lunch in the Steam Packet in the Isle of Whithorn with some friends. I returned in the middle of the afternoon to discover that she had taken it upon herself to wallpaper the section of wall near the children’s section with illustrations of wild animals she had cut out from an encyclopaedia.

I despair. She is a law unto herself.

Mr Deacon telephoned. He wants a copy of Evelyn Waugh’s Decline and Fall. When I reminded him that he had told me that fiction was for women, he replied, ‘Most of it, but not all of it.’

A customer who had driven down from Ayr brought in two boxes of books to sell. Mostly Victorian guidebooks to Europe, but not in very good condition. She had bought them at an auction by accident, thinking she was bidding on a samovar. I gave her £200, which she assured me gave her enough profit to have made the journey worthwhile.

Nicky, on leaving at the end of the working day: ‘I’ve got a great idea, why don’t we turn the shop into a disco?’

Till total £345.99

19 customers